Today a good friend of mine read this blog and asked me, "Are you talking about a church or a bunch of small groups?" Good question. Here is my response:
I sense that you may be surprised by the plural language I'm using in this blog, so let me try to explain. CityWells, as I see them are churches, not small groups, though they may begin as small groups. I have been very compelled by a statement I read recently - something to the tune of "If you really want to impact the world for Christ quit thinking about planting trees and start thinking about orchards." Working from that, one of the core strands of DNA I hope to instill in the first CityWell is an absolute commitment to replication. I hope we will be a church that exists, in part, to start other churches which will in turn start other churches.
There are several motivating factors to this ambition. Foremost is the fact that there is no more effective way of bringing people into a disciple relationship with Christ than through new churches. All of the studies I've read (and I've read too many!) indicate the same thing: in the first ten years of a church's life evangelistic fervor and fruit is exponentially greater than in the remaining life of the church. Secondly, churches who have a regular, disciplined commitment to "parenting" new churches maintain their outward focus and evangelistic effectiveness at rates that far surpass churches that exist only unto themselves. Thirdly, a commitment to ongoing planting will require and ensure robust and continual leadership development and deployment that I hope will have tremendous kingdom impact. I have a friend who has planted five churches out of his first (of which he is still the pastor), and each of those has also parented new churches... all in the same city! He has become a mass producer of effective pastors. That idea excites me!
So, from day one I hope the CityWell will understand itself to be a plural church.
Cleve - can you share a little more about the vision for a CityWell church? I think most of us understand what a small group looks like, but a small group that becomes a church...what does that look like? What are the qualifications of the leader? Are they lay leaders or ordained? How do you guarantee the quality of the experience and the teaching for new church members? Who regulates what happens in a church like this and how is there accountability for doctrine and standards of theology? Inquiring minds want to know!
ReplyDeleteAwesome questions, PsychoDoc! These require more than a mere comment, so check out the post: Ordinary Leaders.
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